


Do It For Her

by 0bviousLeigh



Series: Isn't She Lovely [3]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 20:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8636362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/0bviousLeigh/pseuds/0bviousLeigh
Summary: Shuzo has no idea how Yoko managed, after Yusho vanished. He remembers doing many of the things she’s done for him, but Yoko picked herself up quickly. She had Yuya to look after. Shuzo is lost because he has no one to pull himself together for.





	

Shuzo wakes up every morning, and the first thing he does is run to Yuzu’s room, half convinced that all the time that passed has just been an elaborate dream, and his baby girl is safe and sound in her bed. Each time, he flings her door open and is greeted by the same sight—an empty bed, slightly unmade, with dust gathering on the teddy bear that lies on the sheets.

In the beginning, Shuzo wasn’t convinced that Yuzu was actually in another dimension. So he took a picture of Yuzu down to the police station and filed a missing persons report.

“When did you last see her?” The police officer asked.

“Before the Maiami city tournament, she was one of the contestants,” Shuzo said. “She never came back.”

“Is it possible she was taken to one of the other dimensions?” The officer asked.

“That’s what I was told,” Shuzo said. “But I just don’t know. I don’t think anyone saw her be taken. She could still be here, couldn’t she?”

The officer gave him a form to fill out. “Tell us what you can about her.”

Shuzo realized he had no idea what Yuzu was wearing, since Yuya gave him her clothes, but he describes her bracelet in great detail, in case someone found it, or found an unconscious girl with that bracelet on her wrist. There’s no space for him to write a plea for her safe return, or say the he has so much he needs to tell her, and he needs to see her again, he needs to, because he wasn’t ready for her to leave and he never would be.

Even after filing the report, Shuzo was convinced that he needed to do more. He made a flier, with Yuzu’s picture and some basic information about her, and he put his phone number on it. He made hundreds of copies of that flier and put them up all over the city. He would pass people on the street and show them the picture.

“Have you seen my daughter?” He would demand. “Have you seen her?”

Not since the tournament, they would answer, pity in their eyes.

It rained, and Shuzo made more fliers and put them up over the ruined ones. He took to walking around the city, calling for Yuzu, handing out fliers to anyone who would take them. He spent days walking around the city, until one day he collapsed on the street and was taken to the hospital.

Shuzo woke up with Yoko beside his bed. “Yuzu would never forgive herself if she knew you were starving yourself over her.”

“Shut up,” Shuzo snapped. “She’s not here, and I have to find her.”

“Yuya said—”

“I know what he said!” Shuzo shouted, “But I can’t sit here and do nothing!”

Yoko stared at him. “You can help the kids. They’re scared, Shuzo, they need someone to help them.”

“Not me,” Shuzo said. “I can’t help myself, how could I help them? No Yoko, I’m afraid this time I can’t go back to teaching.”

“Then I will,” Yoko said. “I’ll teach them.”

Yoko’s been an actual godsend through all this. When Shuzo got out of the hospital, she started dropping in on him every day with meals, and she’d sit with him and make sure he ate. She shoved him into the bathroom and told him to shower, shave, and change his clothes. She keeps the school going, even took in new students, kids and adults alike who wanted to learn to defend themselves. She collected Shuzo’s bills and paid them, no matter how much he told her she didn’t have to.

“It’s still your school, this money is as much yours as it is mine,” Yoko said. “And do you think I’d let you go homeless? What would happen when Yuzu comes home?”

Shuzo has no idea how Yoko managed, after Yusho vanished. He remembers doing many of the things she’s done for him, but Yoko picked herself up quickly. She had Yuya to look after. Shuzo is lost because he has no one to pull himself together for. He barely sleeps, because when he does, he dreams about Yuzu vanishing before his eyes. He spends his nights cleaning the house obsessively, reading up what he can find about the war, and staring at pictures of Yuzu.

With each day that passes, Shuzo wonders how long he has to live like this. At what point does he stop thinking that Yuzu will walk through the front door? When does the limit on hope run out? Will there ever come a day that Shuzo will have to accept that he’ll never see his daughter again?

 

Shuzo still wanders the city. He carries his fliers and calls out to strangers, “Have you seen my daughter?”

He talks aloud to himself, hoping that fate will hear. He’ll tell Yuzu about how he came to find her. He’ll apologize for not telling her the truth sooner. He’ll never let her out of his sight. He’ll give her more freedom. He’ll cherish every moment with her. He won’t make her stay with him. Fate can have her back if he just gets one more day, one more hour, one more minute with his baby girl.

 

One day, during his wanderings, Shuzo walks around a corner and collides with a young girl.

“Ouch!” the girl cries in a familiar voice, “Watch where you’re g-go…” She stutters to a stop and stares at him wide eyed. “You’re Yuzu’s father.”

Shuzo knows her, she goes to LDS and her name is Masumi. Yuzu has dueled her twice, and she gave Yuzu a card.

“Have you seen her?” Shuzo asks, his voice hoarse.

Masumi gulps. “No…” she takes a piece of paper out of her back pocket and unfolds it. “Have you seen him?”

Shuzo looks at the paper. He knows that boy, too. Hokuto, the one who dueled against Yuya.

“No,” Shuzo says. “I’m so sorry.”

Masumi looks Shuzo over. “Mister, have you eaten lately?”

“Huh?” Shuzo asks.

“You can’t look for Yuzu if you aren’t strong enough to walk!” Masumi snaps. She grabs Shuzo’s arm. “Come with me.”

She takes him to LDS, of all places. She marches him into the school’s cafeteria, hands him a tray and piles food on to it. She shows the servers some kind of badge, and they nod, and Masumi takes Shuzo to a table and makes him sit.

“Eat,” she says firmly, sitting across from him.

Shuzo obeys, mostly out of surprise. He takes a few bites and mumbles, “You remind me of her.”

Masumi doesn’t meet his eyes. “Have you heard anything about her?”

“That boy, Reiji, he thinks she was taken to another dimension,” Shuzo says. “But I just don’t know. She was in the city, who’s to say she didn’t get lost? Or some creep didn’t…” he chokes on a lump in his throat.

“She’s fine,” Masumi says firmly.

Shuzo gives her a look of confusion. “How do you know that?”

Masumi tilts her chin up. “Because she’s stronger than people give her credit for, myself included. She wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her, and neither would Hokuto. They’re both okay, we have to believe that, because they’ll know if we don’t.”

Shuzo smiles at her. “I wish I had your optimism. Hokuto is lucky to have a friend like you.”

“Eh,” Masumi says with a shrug. “He’s not my friend, not really. I never told him so.” She deflates a little. “I kind of regret it now.”

“I hope you find him soon,” Shuzo says.

“And I hope you find Yuzu,” Masumi says. “By the way, there’s someone else you can ask your questions to.”

“Who?” Shuzo asks.

Masumi points to the glass wall of the cafetaria, and Shuzo follows her gaze. Himika Akaba is walking through the hall, talking to a man in a suit.

Shuzo leaps to his feet and rushes out of the cafeteria, coming up behind her and the man. He shoves aside the man and grabs Himika’s shoulders.

“Where is my daughter?” Shuzo growls.

Himika glares at him. “Remove your hands from me.”

“WHERE IS SHE?!” Shuzo screams. “YOU TELL ME WHERE SHE IS OR MY HANDS WILL BE THE LEAST OF YOUR WORRIES! HOW DID REIJI KNOW SHE WAS TAKEN? WHAT DO YOU KNOW? HOW DO YOU KNOW IT? YOU ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW!”

Himika knocks his hands aside. “We know because of a powerful energy surge that we have identified as coming from Yuzu’s bracelet. It collided with a force of synchro energy, and then both energy reading disappeared from our radar.”

“That proves nothing!” Shuzo hollers. “Absolutely nothing! You have no video of this? You were supposed to be watching her, all of them! You closed down the city for this stupid tournament and you couldn’t keep the participants safe?!”

Himika glowers. “This is war. Nothing is safe.”

Shuzo slams his hand into the glass wall next to him. It shatters, and he feels blood drip from open wounds.

“My daughter was not a soldier,” Shuzo growls. “She was fourteen and you used her. I hope you’re a better mother than you are a teacher, but honestly, I have no hope for you, and I pity your sons for being subjected to your existence.”

Shuzo turns and walks out of the building. He’s dazed, and angry, and he has no idea where he’s going.

“Oye, wait up, Mister!”

Shuzo turns around. Masumi is running after him.

“Oh,” He says, “Um, were you watching that?”

“Yup,” Masumi says, jogging up. “And you’re right, she’s kind of a bitch.” Masumi looks at Shuzo’s hand. “You oughta get that looked at, c’mon let’s go to the hospital.” She grabs him by the sleeve and drags him along.

No doubt about it, Masumi definitely reminds him of Yuzu.

 

A few days after the incident at LDS and the trip to the hospital, Masumi shows up to the Hiiragi house. She walks right through the front door and nearly gives Shuzo a heart attack. She looks at the baby pictures of Yuzu that are scattered on the table.

“What is with parents and pictures of their kids butts?” She asks, looking at a picture of Yuzu and Yuya lying on a beach blanket, each wearing a pair of sunglasses and nothing else.

“Masumi, what are you doing here?” Shuzo asks.

“It’s Saturday,” she says, as if it’s obvious. “I don’t have school, and I can’t sit at home and do nothing, so here I am. Where’s all your cooking stuff? Do you have a rice cooker? You look like a gust of wind could blow you over, Yuzu would flip her lid if she could see you.”

Masumi introduces herself to the kitchen. She makes rice, steams vegetables, and fries up some chicken. As the chicken sizzles on the stove, she reaches into her deck holster and pulls out a jar labeled “curry powder,” of all things.

“You always carry that?” Shuzo asks.

Masumi nods. “My dad says that curry makes everything better. I can’t make it like him, but I can fake it, especially since this is his signature blend.”

Shuzo clears the pictures off the table. “How well did you know Yuzu?” He asks.

Masumi frowns. “Not that well. I had a pretty bad impression of her, at first. She changed my mind when I dueled her in the Tournament.”

“You gave her a card,” Shuzo says.

“Yeah,” Masumi says, her cheeks pink. “But whatever, I bet she doesn’t even use it.”

“I bet she does,” Shuzo says. “I can’t remember any friends of Yuzu’s who gave her cards from their own deck. Yuzu wouldn’t take that lightly.”

Masumi mumbles something under her breath and turns off the stove. “It’s done,” she says.

Some of the chicken is overcooked, some of it is undercooked. Some of the vegetables are still a little raw. Shuzo wonders just how much cooking this girl does, and he’s honored that she took time out of her day to do this for him. Masumi eats a little, and when she insists that she’s not that hungry, Shuzo eats everything.

“Wow,” Masumi says, staring at the empty dishes. “Do you eat at all?”

“Most days I can’t bring myself to,” Shuzo admits.

Masumi sits back and crosses her arms. “Well I’m not washing all these by myself.”

“You don’t have to wash them at all,” Shuzo says quickly.

“I made the mess, it’s only fair for me to clean it up, but you ate the mess, so you have to help.”

Shuzo laughs, and the sound shocks him. It’s been ages since he laughed.

Masumi and Shuzo stand elbow-to-elbow at the sink. Shuzo’s hand is still bandaged from where he punched through the glass, so Masumi washes and Shuzo dries. He hums a little tune under his breath.

“That’s from the Little Mermaid,” Masumi says after a few minutes.

“Yuzu’s favorite movie,” Shuzo says.

“I’ve always been more of a Belle fan myself,” Masumi says. “Yellow is my favorite color.”

When the dishes are finished, Masumi leaves, exiting like the whirlwind she entered as. Shuzo finds himself confused by, but grateful for her visit.

 

A few days later Masumi turns up again, and she’s not alone. She’s got the ear of another familiar kid pinched between her fingers.

“We’re here to rake your leaves,” Masumi says as the boy next to her swats at her arm.

“Unhand me, woman!” He cries, and Shuzo remembers his name—Yaiba, another of the three kids that dueled his students.

“Rake my leaves?” Shuzo echoes.

Masumi gestures to the leaves on the sidewalk behind her. “Yeah.”

“You don’t have to,” Shuzo says.

Yaiba twists out of Masumi’s grip. “Great, then I’m—”

Masumi grabs him by the collar. “We want to,” she says warningly, her eyes on Yaiba.

Shuzo digs brooms and rakes out of the basement, and the three of them spend the morning cleaning up the side walk. Shuzo didn’t realize how bad it looked until Masumi pointed it out. This really did need to be done.

When they finish, Masumi lets herself into the house and digs around in the fridge. She makes chicken soup, adding a hefty amount of curry powder. While the soup cooks, she goes through the fridge and the pantry and throws away everything that’s expired.

“I hope you didn’t drink this milk!” Masumi cries, staring at the expiration date. She then sits down and makes a list of the things Shuzo needs to restock his fridge.

“Is she always like this?” Shuzo asks Yaiba.

He shrugs. “We’re not even that close, but I guess she’s like this cuz she feels guilty about not being there for Hokuto or Yuzu.”

Shuzo’s heart twists. Masumi is just a kid, what could she have done to protect them? A girl her age shouldn’t be feeling that kind of guilt. It’s just another way that she reminds him of Yuzu. How many times has he had similar thoughts about his own daughter?

Yaiba leaves soon after that, but Masumi prods Shuzo into a jacket and shoes and takes him grocery shopping. She makes him carry a basket and fills it with necessities, things Shuzo hasn’t thought about since Yuzu vanished.

“Masumi, where are your parents?”

“At home I guess,” Masumi says, inspecting a small carton of eggs.

“Do they know you’re here?”

“Oh, yeah,” Masumi says. “I told them I was going to see you.”

“And they don’t mind?”

“I think they’re glad I’m doing something besides dueling obsessively,” Masumi says. “They always say I need a more active social life. Not sure this is what they had in mind, but they can’t complain since I’m doing something proactive.”

“Is it just you and them?” Shuzo asks.

“No, I have a baby brother,” Masumi says. “He’s three, his name is Mamoru.” She pulls out her wallet and shows Shuzo a picture of a round-faced baby with pale skin and jet black hair. “He takes after mama in his looks, but he says he wants to be like me when he’s older.”

“You should be with him,” Shuzo says quietly.

“I still play with him,” Masumi says defensively.

“I just mean…” Shuzo runs his hand through his hair. “You’re just a kid. You don’t have to take all of this on by yourself.”

Masumi glares. “I will do whatever I want, thank you very much.” She tosses her hair. “Besides, I owe you.”

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Masumi says, “When I ran into you that day, I realized I had to stop being so obsessive before I ended up just like you. You smelled like you hadn’t showered in days and you looked like a zombie.”

Her no-nonsense attitude is very familiar, but it doesn’t hurt to think of how much like Yuzu she is. It’s almost…nice, really.

At the cash register, Shuzo reaches for his wallet and realizes he doesn’t have it. He panics for a second before he sees it in Masumi’s hands.

“When did you get that?” Shuzo asks.

“I took it out of your pocket five minutes ago,” Masumi says smugly. “Hokuto taught me how to do that.”

 

The next time Masumi shows up at Shuzo’s front door, he’s tempted not to open it for her—maybe she’ll go be with kids her own age, instead of taking care of him. But after she rings the bell twice and knocks for a solid minute, she opens the door on her own.

“Yoko gave me a key,” she says scowling at him. “Get dressed, I have to show you something.”

“Masumi…”

She stomps her foot. “Will you just do it for crying out loud?!”

Shocked by the outburst, Shuzo does as she says. Masumi drags him out before he has time to tie his shoelaces and leads him along a familiar route.

“We’re going to You Show?” Shuzo asks.

Masumi nods tersely. “You have to see.”

Shuzo knows Yoko’s been taking care of the place, and he’s meant to go check on it, but each time he tries all he can think about is all the things Yuya and Yuzu did in that school. He’s too tired to fight Masumi, and he knows he’d lose to her, so Shuzo follows her silently.

There’s a banner over the entry to the school, ‘All Ages Accepted.’

When Masumi and Shuzo walk in, they barely take two steps before they’re greeted by a group of kids.

“Nee-chan!” They shout, clinging to Masumi, “Come watch me duel!”

“Not now,” Masumi says gently, “And where is your respect? Say hello to your Principal!”

Before the kids can say anything, Shuzo hears joyful shouts and three more kids come crashing into him.

“You’re back!” Tatsuya, Futoshi, and Ayu scream, hugging Shuzo hard enough to squeeze the breath out of him.

He pats their backs. “Hi, kids,” he wheezes.

The three of them jump around, talking over each other and interrupting each other, at least until Masumi whistles loudly and they calm down.

“How can anyone hear anything if you shout like that?” She scolds, but her face is gentle. “I brought Principal Hiiragi here so he could see everything that’s new.”

Tatsuya, Futoshi, and Ayu jump up and down. “Can we come, too?”

“Of course,” Masumi says, “But only you three. The rest of you—” She turns to the other kids. “Shouldn’t you be in lessons?”

The kids scurry off, waving to Shuzo as they go.

“There are more students?” Shuzo asks.

Ayu nods. “A lot of them showed up after the tournament, and Masumi Nee-chan found a lot more!”

“Come on,” Futoshi says, grabbing Shuzo’s hand, “Come see the classrooms!”

They show him one room where Yoko teaches a bunch of kids, all of whom look to be under ten years old, the basics of dueling. They show him another room where older kids supervise duels between preteens. In the battle field, Yaiba is coaching grown men and women.

“This is my room,” Masumi says as the group approaches one of the larger classrooms.

“Your room?” Shuzo says.

“I may be a fusion user, but I learned all the techniques,” Masumi tells him. “Anyone who wants to learn, I teach them.”

“You teach here?” Shuzo asks.

Masumi looks at the kids. “Why don’t you all go see if Yoko needs any help?”

The kids hug Shuzo one more time and then scamper off.

Masumi leans against the blackboard, her arms crossed. “After seeing how Chairwoman Akaba treated you, I left LDS. I had been unsatisfied for a while, I felt like she was using the war to scare people into signing up for classes, and then when she was rude to you, when you just wanted to know about Yuzu…anyway I came here first thing. I was looking for you but I got Yoko and a bunch of kids instead. I didn’t come here to teach, but Yoko said she knew I was good and asked me to help out. I brought Yaiba along and spread the word that this school would take anyone who wanted to learn, whether they were good or not.” She lifts her head. “But Yoko, Yaiba and I can’t do everything. You’re the principal, and people here want to learn how to duel like Yuzu and Yuya. I can teach them techniques, but you’re the one who taught Yuzu and Yuya how to be entertaining. People are scared, and they want someone to remind them to have fun.” She pushes herself off the blackboard. “If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for Yuzu.” She walks out of the classroom, leaving Shuzo standing alone and, dare he say it…a little ashamed.

 

Yusho opens the school bright and early. He sweeps the floors, washes the windows, and puts a new box of chalk in every classroom. When Yoko arrives, she’s in shock.

“Shuzo, what…?”

“I got some sense talked into me,” He says. “Seeing what you and those kids have done…I should have been here sooner.”

Yoko smiles. “Masumi reminds you of her, doesn’t she?”

Shuzo nods. “It’s funny, I didn’t think the two of them were that close.”

Yoko smiles knowingly. “No, not as close as Masumi wants them to be. But there’s hope for that when Yuzu returns.”

Shuzo nods. “When she returns,” he repeats. And when she does return, he hopes that she’ll be proud of what has happened.

**Author's Note:**

> random opinion but I have no patience for Himika Akaba.


End file.
